and the spiderman t-shirts are being outnumbered by "Ya Hussain" t-shirts in the shop window displays:

Of course, this means that the month of Muharram has almost arrived. If time permits, during the 10 days that lead up to Ashura I'm planning on doing a short series of posts (maybe 3 or so) about this period which is so deeply emotional, spiritual, and personal for many in Bahrain and around the world. I intend to provide some coverage of the Ashura events that will be taking in place in Bahrain, as well as to provide some narratives of the Tragedy of Karbala, especially those that aren't specifically Shia in origin (I'll explain why in a later post).

But until my first real post on the topic, why not read Leila's blog series on Muharram from last year. And if you have no clue what Ashura is, then try starting here and then google around.

And if you're in Bahrain, the Islamic Awareness Society will be giving lectures in English about Ashura, every night starting this Thursday (Feb 10) until Ashura (Feb 20). The lectures will start at 9pm in a tent that has been set up right opposite the American Mission Hospital.

Says Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai:

The earth trembles, shakes; the skies are in uproar;
This is not a war, this is the manifestation of Love.

This entry was posted
on Monday, February 07, 2005 at 2/07/2005 07:29:00 pm. Permalink

hey salaam bahraini. stumbled on your blog when looking at my site stats - thanks for the link to mustafahadi.com :-)

u've got some really cool qawwali/sufi & other poetry - one request though, i wonder if you could post transliterations of the poetry too, e.g. the bhittai couplet, as I've never heard it in the original (Sindhi?)